Five Cases of Contagious Personality
by Lady Tragic
Summary: It is not unheard of for an empath/telepath, when under severe mental and physical strain, to unconsciously mimic the emotions and personalities of those around them..."


Title: Five Cases of Contagious Personality

Author/Artist: Lady Tragic/phoenixofborg (LJ)

Pairing/Character(s): Spock, Genfic, Kirk POV. Mentions of the rest.

Rating: T for Swearing

Summary: "It is not unheard of for an empath/telepath, when under severe mental and physical strain, to unconsciously mimic the emotions and personalities of those around them. They are generally unaware of these lapses, and unless such behavior becomes constant or self-damaging, the best treatment is rest and solitude."

Notes/Warnings_:_ Done for this prompt on the kink meme -- .com/st_xi_?thread=13935517#t13935517 "Spock, because of his hybrid physiology or whatever, when mentally strained (extremely tired, sick and other stuff like that) takes on personality traits from persons he touches/mindmelds with. I want to see Spock swear like Bones, flirt like Jim and stuff like that."

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Captain Kirk

The first time it happens, Jim honestly thinks Spock has (_finally) _developed a sense of humor. A damn weird time for it, granted, as they're both a mess following a Klingon attack, but hey, maybe even Vulcans get punchy from adrenaline letdown. Jim's slumped against the side of the turbolift, and Spock is far too stiff to slump but he's definitely _leaning_, like a pine tree about to keel over, right next to him. The lift pauses to let out a cute ensign, and Kirks eyes follow her as she goes, because _damn_ she has nice legs and when he's too tired to notice that, he'll be dead. (She has a run in her pantyhose. He can see it getting longer as she walks away.) And as the lift doors hiss shut, Spock fucking _whistles. _An honest-to-god _wolf whistle_. Kirk dissolves into snickers, and it turns into full-on laughter when Spock follows it up with a damn convincing expression of pokerfaced confusion.

"Captain? I fail to see what is so amusing."

Kirk laughs harder.

Lieutenant Uhura

The second time, he almost doesn't notice, because Uhura's so ice-cool on the bridge anyway. And if Spock's voice sounds a little… odd, that can be easily attributed to the cold he picked up on Asprix V. Only _Spock_ could catch cold on a world with an average temperature of 15 degrees Celsius, but Kirk had refrained from commenting because he knew the Vulcan would get his karmic recompense next time they had to survey a desert world, complete with not-quite-snide (as only Spock could be) remarks about 'forgetting humans were not so well suited to this environment'. Anyway, Kirk would have let it go, but then he responds to order with "Right away, Captain," and it's one hundred percent Uhura – that slightly superior tone, like a mother humoring a small child – it's enough to make him do a double take over his shoulder. Spock's… standing like a girl. There's no other way to put it. All his weight on one hip, arms crossed, head slightly tilted. Then Spock notices Kirk's stare, and immediately shifts back to his normal posture, hands locked behind his back.

…Huh.

Ensign Chekov

An excessively peppy Pysch major Kirk had once slept with had told him that a pink elephant could spontaneously appear in the middle of a crowded room, disappear again, and no one would say anything. The logic was, no one would mention the pink elephant, because none of them believed there could be any such thing. Therefore, the elephant couldn't have existed, they must have imagined it, and people as a rule aren't given to admitting to spontaneous vivid hallucinations. Kirk had thought it seemed pretty farfetched at the time. Then he witnessed a metaphorical pink elephant charge through his bridge wearing a lime-green tuxedo and playing the bagpipes, and true to Casey Martin's prediction of all those years ago, no one said a thing.

Spock leaned over Chekov's console, double checking the figures over the young Russian's shoulder. Apparently satisfied, he straightens up, wipes the green blood off his forehead and says to Kirk, "Modifications to ze Romulan cloaking dewice complete, Keptin." He's even bouncing on his heels a little.

There's a collective pause, then everyone on the bridge reaches the unspoken decision to pretend it didn't happen and continues about their business. "Thank you, Mr. Spock. Prepare to engage."

Dr. McCoy

Spock _really _shouldn't be up here, and Kirk knows it. He should be in Sickbay, heavily sedated, but dammit they _need_ him, even though he's more or less held together by bandages. McCoy is hovering, ready to bustle Spock back to Sickbay at the first possible moment. As the _Enterprise's _orbit decayed and Cortell Prime loomed larger on the main screen, Kirk can't help but ask even though he knows it's _totally_ not useful and the last thing Spock needs right now is more pressure. "How much longer, Spock…?"

Spock's shoulders tighten, and he snaps at Kirk, "Dammit Jim, I'm a scientist, not a magician!" Any other time that would be fucking _ hilarious, _but with the ship plummeting towards the planet, it's very much _not. _The last thing he wants to think about right now is his first officer being medically compromised. Fortunately, Spock manages to bypass the safety subroutines _before _ passing out.

Captain Kirk Again

He's babbling, and he knows it. He also can't help it, because they almost just died (again), and while you'd think he'd become jaded to that particular brand of fear, he hadn't yet. He can't decide if that's a good or bad thing, either. It's the shaky exhilaration of winning, combined with the sheer terror of very nearly losing everything, and Kirk's very glad indeed that Spock's generally inclined toward listening to him as they sit in the observation lounge and stare out into space.

But even Spock's looking close to exhaustion as Kirk asks "But why us, Spock? It's always us. Doesn't that violate statistical probability or something?"

And Spock _smirks, _causing a hot/cold shiver to shoot down Kirk's spine, and replies "Because we're just _that fucking awesome_. Good night, Captain." And he exits, leaving Jim feeling indescribably creeped out.


End file.
